


and I know what you're feeling ('cause I feel it as well)

by nothingbutniall



Category: WTFock | Skam (Belgium)
Genre: Antwerp, First Kiss, M/M, Sweet sweet babies, WTFock Season 3
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-06
Updated: 2019-11-06
Packaged: 2021-01-24 10:00:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,250
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21336388
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nothingbutniall/pseuds/nothingbutniall
Summary: “It’s impossible to breathe under water, but somehow, they find themselves in the one place where they can.”(In another universe, their first kiss goes something like this.)
Relationships: Robbe Ijzermans/Sander Driesen
Comments: 8
Kudos: 119





	and I know what you're feeling ('cause I feel it as well)

**Author's Note:**

> This idea has been in my head since August, in my files since October and now finally posted.
> 
> (Title comes from Troye Sivan's For Him.)

When Sander says “let’s go”, Robbe’s first instinct is to follow him. It’s only when they’re on their bikes that a pang of guilt shoots through him, and part of him wants to turn around and find Noor to apologise to her, but then Sander laughs and any rational thought flies straight out of Robbe’s head.

It’s a good thing the streets are mostly empty, because otherwise they’d surely have been scooped by a car by now. Sander zigzags over the road, skimming past the parked cars and only narrowly avoiding a collision with a startled cat.

Ten o’clock has coloured the sky pitch black, streetlights casting an orange glow over the city and turning Sander’s hair orange. When they pass a traffic light, the orange is momentarily replaced by green.

Robbe could write an essay about the way Sander’s hair reflects the world around him, how the white captures any colour and makes him stand out from the crowd. There is a metaphor in there somewhere, how this boy captures the rainbow, but Robbe seems to lose the ability to put his feelings into words when he’s around Sander.

He throws his head back and closes his eyes for a second, feeling the wind in his hair. Often, Antwerp’s infamous winds lash in his face, but tonight, it’s nothing more than a gentle breeze across his cheeks.

A car honks at them, and Sander shouts a “Sorry!” before turning his head back to look at Robbe. “Woops,” he grins, eyes sparkling with mirth. He couldn’t look less sorry if he tried.

Robbe smiles back at him, because how could he not, and speeds up until they’re next to each other again. They struggle to keep their handlebars apart, an invisible force seemingly making them drift towards each other with every rotation of their pedals. It doesn’t help that Robbe feels high on life, breathless from laughing, his brain unable to focus on anything that isn’t Sander.

Sander, who waltzed into his life like a whirlwind, making Robbe forget to keep his guards up. Sander, who acts first and thinks later and is never ever at a loss for words. Sander, who intrigues him and confuses him and who makes him feel all the things he tries so hard not to feel.

“Where are we going?” Robbe finally thinks to ask when they’re nearing the riverside.

“You’ll see.” Sander smiles at him, so sure of himself, so sure that Robbe would follow him anywhere.

(He would. For all the chaos that Sander carries in him, he feels safe, too.)

Just a few minutes later, Sander jumps off his bike, leaving Robbe behind as he speed-walks to the St. Anna’s tunnel, the pedestrian tunnel connecting both shores of the river.

For a moment, Robbe just sits on his bike, staring at Sander in slight confusion. He expects him to turn around, laugh, tell him his plan, but he doesn’t.

Sander disappears out of Robbe’s line of vision and that kicks Robbe into motion. He steps of his bike, hesitates, and then quickly locks his and Sander’s bike to each other. It is Antwerp after all.

The escalator is broken because that’s just how it always is, and Robbe runs down the steps two at a time until he slips and only barely has time to grab the railing. He slows his pace slightly, just enough to avoid falling to his death, and catches sight of Sander a few dozen metres in front of him.

When Robbe jumps off the last step, the sound of his feet hitting the ground makes Sander turn around briefly, flashing a bright smile at Robbe.

Then he turns back and brings his hands around his mouth, letting out a scream. It echoes through the tunnel, bouncing off the walls around them, and makes a person in the distance look up.

Robbe shakes his head at him, but he can’t help the small smile that appears on his lips.

Sander smiles, too, and spreads his arms. “Can you believe we’re under water right now?” He presses a finger to the tiled wall and traces one of the seams.

Nodding, Robbe takes a few more steps in his direction and comes to a stop about a metre away from him. It feels like a safe distance – neither too far nor too close to look suspicious.

“We’re like fish in a fish tank right now,” Sander muses.

“That’s… not how fish work,” Robbe says with an amused smile. “We’re in the opposite of a fish tank. Like an alternate universe, where the fish keep us in a human tank.”

Sander cocks his head and studies him. “You’re clever,” he finally says.

It feels like more than a compliment.

Here, under water, nothing can get to them, and maybe that’s what gives Robbe the courage to take a step closer. It’s still safe, not a bold move but not totally subtle, either.

It’s impossible to breathe under water, but somehow, they find themselves in the one place where they can and Robbe knows that’s what you call an oxymoron, two seemingly contradictory ideas that can co-exist anyway. Except he doesn’t actually feel like he can breathe because the sight of Sander takes his breath away.

He looks like undiscovered art, marble sculpted by a master.

Robbe never understood how you could drown in someone’s eyes until now, and his longs burn trying to take in oxygen.

Sander is still looking at him, quiet curiosity written in his features, like he’s trying to figure out what’s going on inside Robbe’s head. “What if this wall gave in right now?” he murmurs.

The intensity of his gaze sends a shiver down Robbe’s spine and he swallows. “We’d have to swim,” he replies, just as quietly as Sander.

“How long can you hold your breath for?”

Robbe shrugs.

“Let’s test it, yeah? See which one of us would survive.”

Something in his voice makes Robbe narrow his eyes slightly, like he’s missing a hidden message, but Sander doesn’t elaborate, simply waits for him to answer. He nods.

Sander counts down on his fingers and then they’re standing in the middle of a tunnel, cheeks puffed with air, staring each other down. Robbe knows they’re not alone, knows there are people on their way to wherever passing them by, but he doesn’t see any of them.

All he sees is the green in Sander’s eyes, the shadows of his lashes on his cheeks, his wind-swept hair.

He’s quickly running out of air, his heart hammering in his chest, but he’s not going to lose this.

Maybe it’s the lack of oxygen making him slow, because he doesn’t realise what Sander is doing until he presses their lips together and all Robbe can do is open his mouth and let himself be kissed. Sander tastes faintly like mint, mixed with beer and something else Robbe can’t quite place.

It’s short, barely more than a couple of seconds, and Sander nips at Robbe’s bottom lip before pulling away. His eyes glitter. “I won.”

He definitely didn’t. If anything, Robbe feels like they’re both winners here.

“No, you didn’t.”

“Yes, I did.”

“You cheated.”

“Did not.”

“Did, too." Robbe raises his eyebrows in a challenging way. “Rematch,” It’s an order, not a question. When Sander doesn't immediately respond, he adds: “Come on. Again.”

Sander raises his eyebrows, too, a smile tugging at his lips. “Which part, exactly?”

Robbe answers him by shutting him up with a kiss.

**Author's Note:**

> Watching them fall in love is the greatest thing ❤
> 
> Comments and kudos are greatly appreciated. You can also find me on Twitter (@nothingbutniall)!


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